Adelboden day six: not racing to the top

Friday was intended to be the day we got to a couple of summits, including Elsighorn. We were taken by taxi  then cable car to Elsigbach. Not far from the lift station, we came across our first Burnt Orchid - see below. We then started the long ascent.... Long and fast - because of the deadline to get the late afternoon bus back. This was too fast for Rosie, so we decided to bail out and make our own way down. So we re-traced our steps to the cable car, then used the very expensive map we'd bought to find a lovely route back to Adelboden along the side of the valley in the sunshine. The GPS track below includes the cable car descent!

Burnt Orchid

Butterwort

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Adelboden day five: flowers in the mist

Thursday was destined to be a day in the clouds. We all took the long cable car ride to Sillerenbühl, then walked along the Alpine Flower path to Hahnenmosspass. This path has notices each with a picture, name and description of a flower nearby.

We had break for hot chocolate at the lift station at Hahnenmosspass then set off along the ridge in the mist. Usually, this walk goes a fair way along this lovely ridge, admiring the views on both sides. This was certainly not day for views, so we cut the route short and headed for the Berlager station to get the cable car back, but not before we'd been seriously hailed upon.

Naturally, these adventures called for another visit to the cake shop.

The view we didn't see

Salamanders

Adelboden day four: unguided

HF guides get Wednesday off, so we were left to our our devices. Even though rain was expected in the afternoon, we decided to take the long cable car ride to Sillerenbühl and walk down. It started to rain soon after we departed from the top so we duly put on all the clothes we were carrying. It didn't last for long, so we had a more comfortable descent to the valley than we might have had. It was made more comfortable when we came across L'Hotel Des Alpes, which served beer and excellent asparagus soup (ordered after using google to translate the German name).  The sun came out for our walk back along the river, so we rewarded ourselves with large (and expensive) ice cream sundaes back in Adelboden.

Adelboden day three: a beautiful and somewhat scary walk to Oeschinensee

We'd heard a lot about Oeschinensee - the lake that changes colour. Our route to it involved taking the cable car to the plateau walking almost to the lake, then climbing steeply into the rocks above it so that we could 'contour along' above the lake. This involved traversing a foot-and-a-bit-wide path for a mile or so with a drop of several hundred feet immediately on our right. It's what I call a 'slip and die' path. It was a bit scary but a fantastic experience. The lake and surrounding peaks were stunning.
After lunch overlooking the lake, we descended to Elsie's mountain hut for a beer, and then started the tough descent to the lake -  this involved hanging onto metal ropes. A female yodeller accompanied our descent from the top of the cliff. Lovely.
We walked back into Kandersteg for a well-deserved ice cream sundae.

The path starts near the bottom left of this shot

This gives some idea of the drop

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Adelboden day two : a perfect day in the mountains

Today both groups headed to the top of the local waterfalls - the second highest in Switzerland. The easier group took the gondola up. We joined the harder group that walked to the top. This was a tough climb, and was very exposed in places, but just the sort of thing I come on these holidays for. Lovely weather made for a fantastic ascent.
The harder group split into two for descent. Rosie and Dave took the gondola down, I opted to walk, largely because I am not too keen on dangling in a metal box from a wire.




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Adelboden day one - sunshine and only a little snow

We're in Adelboden, in the Bernese Oberland part of Switzerland for a week. This is an HF holiday, like our Dolomites holiday last year. This year's group is a bit older - we significantly reduce the average age. The hotel Waldhaus-Huldi is super, the staff are charming and (importantly for a hiking holiday) the food is good so far.

Each day, there are two guided walks - a harder one (typically 10 miles and 3000ft of ascent) and an easier one (8 miles and 1500ft). We chose the harder one and significantly reduced the average speed.

It was overcast with a few spots of rain as we climbed from Adelboden, with the sun breaking through occasionally. Stunning views of the mountains and valley all the way. The cloud got more threatening when we stopped for lunch at the highest point of the walk. We just had time to don our waterproofs when it started to snow. This only last a few minutes before the sun came out ad stayed out for the rest of the afternoon.

A great start to the week. We'd happily settle for this weather every day!



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The first leg of the K&A - Reading to Theale, an unexpected treat

We planned to do this on Sunday, but with heavy rain forecast for then and sunshine for today, we needed to switch. Trouble was that we'd scheduled a Bottom Line practice for 11am today. Some crazy woman suggest that we should get up at 6am on a Saturday after a hard week at work in order to get back by 11. So we did.
After a welcome bacon roll at Reading Station, we walked along the Thames from Reading Bridge (overlooked by my first place of work) and joined the Kennet and Avon at its start. The section through downtown Reading was interesting - back gardens of terraced houses with decks over the canal and boat moorings. Then through the Oracle Centre, alongside the IDR (got a little lost here) and hitting open fields much sooner than expected. The rest of the route was lovely - nicer than Theale to Newbury.
We didn't quite make it back for 11, but Steve was waiting for us in the drive! Good practice too.

The junction of the K&A with The Thames

For Fairport Fans

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Getting a little wet between Bedwyn and Newbury on the Kennet & Avon

We made an early start to get the 9:12 train from Newbury to Bedwyn and walked the 14 or so miles back. This stretch is much quieter and more rural than last week's and had many fewer cyclists and runners. There seemed to be a fishing competition going on that stretch along the first few miles of the bank. I didn't realise quite how much kit coarse anglers have.

We got very light rain in the late morning which got more persistent into the afternoon, so we had to don our cagoules for the first time this year (except for Alan's Lake District trip!).

We'd made a picnic in the hope of sunny weather but ate this sheltering from the rain under a tree. The Dundas Arms, has a great situation between the canal and the river. You'd expect a pub there make most of its money from passing weekend boaters. Amazingly, they don't offer food on a Sunday lunchtime and don't open at all on Sunday evenings. A slightly damp picnic was much better than no lunch at all!

Southern Marsh Orchid

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